Singapore:Jailed for cheating motorists online

Robin Goh Chin Soo, 29, a computer technician, pleaded guilty in December 2011 to cheating 19 motorists of Sin$12,500 [US$9,800] and was jailed for two years and five months on Tuesday, 17 January 2012. He had used his neighbour’s wireless connection to hide his location. The district court heard that he used software to hide the Internet Protocol (IP) address of his computer. The software showed his location as Germany.

Goh posted announcements on motoring forums that he could obtain a 25 percent discount on retail prices of car parts and accessories. Forum members placed orders with him and paid him in advance. But they never got their car parts. Forum users then notified the police. The police traced the origin to the wireless router belonging to his neighbour. Goh was using his neighbour’s connection without authority.

Of the $12,500, only $1,845 was recovered. To launder his criminal proceeds he opened several accounts with gold traders and later moved the funds into his own personal account.